Protecting the Financial Needs of Today’s Households

“Protecting the Financial Needs of Today’s Households”, report uses Publisher’s 2017 General Insurance Consumer Survey to understand the protection needs of today’s households. Respondents are categorized into eight lifestages based on type of household and lifestyle, for instance whether they are young and have not yet had a family; have a family with dependent children; are older parents with adult children still living at home; or are adults who have had a family and are now in retirement.

The finances of each lifestage are discussed in relation to bank accounts and cards; property, mortgages and loans; investments; and pensions. This allows the discussion of topics relevant to each lifestage, such as house buying, inheritance, the bank of mum and dad, retirement, and having dependent children. This provides a holistic view of consumers’ financial situations, which in association with their lifestyles is used to discuss their protection needs.

The report analyzes the uptake of protection insurance among consumers in the last 12 months for each lifestage, explores what triggered them to buy, and relates this to their top financial concerns. The report concludes by summarizing each lifestage’s demographic and financial characteristics and highlighting the critical success factors to target them.

It is crucial to understand the lifestyles and finances of families and households in order to understand their protection needs and how to target them. The key to this has changed from analyzing customers on an individual basis to assessing them based on their lifestage and household. Individuals are rarely financially independent: often they will have a partner, children, or parents with whom their finances are linked. This report holistically analyzes the finances of different lifestages to discuss their different protection needs, and suggests how to target them.

By segmenting customers this report highlights that product design and financial advice are lacking at every stage of a consumer’s life. More propositions are needed that target specific lifestages, from advice on how to save to buy a house, right through to retirement and minimizing the impact of inheritance tax. Opportunities exist for all financial services players to enhance and develop propositions that fit the needs of today’s customers.

– There are 26.7 million families in the UK, all of which have different financial needs.
– House buying is key for targeting younger consumers; however, protecting dependents becomes more important when they have children. When approaching retirement age, targeting should focus on retirement and family wealth planning.
– The top financial concern for households is paying monthly bills and housing costs, but with age consumers become more focused on saving for a comfortable retirement.

Reasons to buy:

– Understand how lifestage is influential in product marketing.
– Gain insight into how to target customer lifestages based on their unique financial needs, concerns, and lifestyles.
– Adjust your strategy to appeal to more customers by providing more targeted products and services.